Grenades back in top flight race, Tryum get elusive win

Grenades FC racked up a second straight victory in the Antigua and Barbuda Football Association (ABFA) Premier Division when, on Wednesday, they edged Swetes FC 2-1 in the feature match of a double-header at the Antigua Recreation Grounds (ARG).
Kieron Richards put Grenades ahead in the fourth minute before Atapharoy Bygraves increased their advantage in minute 50 with a close range effort. Swetes pulled a goal back in minute 83, via a Juwan Roberts strike, but did not have the resolve to find the equaliser.
The victory pushes Grenades onto 16 points and third in the standings, just one point behind leaders Parham. The defending champions have however, played one game less than Grenades. Coach of the Grenades outfit, Derrick “Pretty Boy” Edwards, welcomed the victory, which he said is pivotal in the hunt forthis year’s title. “It wasn’t pretty but, at the end of the day, three points is very important for us right now and we’ll take that any day.
Once we keep winning, then everything will just fall into place. I think that the guys understand that it’s a tough competition and it’s going to go down to the wire and we just have to take it one game at a time,” Edwards said. The loss was Swetes’ fourth in nine matches as they remain on nine points and eighth in the standings.
Meanwhile, Tryum FC increased their chances of avoiding the dreaded relegation zone with an important 4-2 victory over Empire FC. Tryum’s attack was led by Elroy Simon who scored in minutes 13, 62 and 90 to record a hattrick, while Leon Moses netted in the 89th to secure three points.
They move to nine points but remain ninth in the 10-team standings due only to an inferior goal difference to that of Swetes and Bullets who also have nine points. Coach Leon Moses Jr., said they were always confident of taking full points against the struggling Empire team.
“We went out sticking to a game plan and it really pulled off, so I wasn’t really worried because Empire hasn’t won a game for the entire season, so we weren’t too worried about playing against Empire. The ball is round and it can go in any direction, but they are on a losing streak right now so they have to get their act together,” the coach said.
Nigel Sander, who was eventually red-carded and Nyque Watkins scored in minutes 28 and 42 respectively for Empire as they crashed to their seventh defeat in nine matches. They remain at the bottom of the standings with two points.